Spray Worthy

Have you ever wondered why people pay a ridiculous price for things that you would not cross the street for?

People are willing to pay ridiculous price for things that bring them Joy

For instance there is a perfume called Clive Christian no 1…1 Million per bottle, 12, 721.89 per ounce, 735 sprays per ounce makes each spray 17.30 if the average amount of sprays is 3 every time one uses this it cost them $51.91. Let’s say they use this 365 days $18,394.50 a year.

Clive Christian no 1…1 Million per bottle, 12, 721.89 per ounce, 735 sprays per ounce makes each spray 17.30 if the average amount of sprays is 3 every time one uses this it cost them $51.91. Let’s say they use this 365 days $18,394.50 a year.

If this were you our I we would probably not use this perfume or colonge on anything or anyone that we deem not spray worthy! (Go around and ask are you spray worthy 17.30 to some 51.for others go to Crickett and spray like crazy. Can you believe it…just to smell good some people are willing to pay the price of a nice used car per year. We think that is ridiculous don’t we.

We think this is crazy….a wasted of money…Never the less there are people willing to pay the price for the best.

People are willing to pay ridiculous price for things that bring them Joy

Passage NLT

I want to answer two questions from this passage

I want to answer two questions from this passage

I want to answer two questions from this passage

Why would Mary do this?

First of all Jesus brought Lazarus her brother back from the dead. If Jesus had done nothing else this would be enough I think to deem Jesus spray worthy.

However even before this miracle Mary was and is a disciple of Jesus.

She is a disciple of Jesus. She is motivated more by her desire to know Jesus than she is by propriety. At the time it would be the expectation that she help Martha with the chores; that would have been her duty and responsibility. Women weren’t disciples of rabbis, and her desire and pursuit of discipleship (as well as Jesus’s allowance of her discipleship) was countercultural. She views Jesus as her teacher and her friend.

She is motivated more by her desire to know Jesus than she is by propriety. (Mary and Martha Story about Mary sitting at Jesus feet)

At the time it would be the expectation that she help Martha with the chores; that would have been her duty and responsibility. Women weren’t disciples of rabbis, and her desire and pursuit of discipleship (as well as Jesus’s allowance of her discipleship) was countercultural.

She views Jesus as her teacher and her friend.

b. Mary is motivated by love over law.

There was a specific law that prohibited women and men who were not related from touching each other. This law is called “negiah,” and it comes from Leviticus (18:6 and 18:19).

The Talmud expands upon this. Women and men were not allowed to touch unless they were married. This means that women and men were not aloud to even shake hands, let alone touch one another’s feet with their hair.

Mary risked both her own and Jesus’s reputation by touching Jesus. We often focus on the expense of the perfume, but just the act of touching Jesus would have been scandalous. This act is very intimate, and the Jews around them would have viewed it as inappropriate.

c. Mary is willing to illustrate her love for Jesus through sacrifice and service.

She spent a large sum of money. 1. The perfume she purchased was expensive. 2. She didn’t use just part of the perfume on him; she used all of it. The act of washing feet was for lowly servants. 1. This was not a glamorous task because feet were the number-one mode of transportation.

2. Washing Jesus’s feet would have implicated Mary’s desire to serve Jesus.

Mary sacrificed because she was not only committed to Jesus as a disciple but she was completely bought into Jesus as Messiah.

Why would Judas Care?

Why would Judas Care?

Judas is motivated by selfish gain.

1. He betrays Jesus for thirty pieces of silver John calls Judas a thief. 1. Judas cared for the common purse.

1. Judas cared for the common purse.

1. Judas cared for the common purse.

a. He stole from the purse. Judas does not care for the poor; he cares for himself.

1. He sees this as a lost opportunity to acquire more money.

2. He is focused on himself, and not on sacrifice for Jesus. Judas does not act out of service and love.

Mary willfully sacrifices reputation and money to care for Jesus. Judas, while being given the opportunity to be a disciple and learn from Jesus, is still seeking to look out for himself.

I don’t think that Judas started this way…In fact I have to believe that Judas at one time actually believed that Jesus was Messiah. But somewhere along the way Judas started to think more about his own comfort, needs and desires than allowing Jesus to transform who he was.

Mary deemed Jesus Spray worthy....Judas deemed only himself Spray worthy.

Our Lives as a Fragrant Offering

If we are not careful we too can get so caught up in our own needs and desires that we fail to give everything we have to Jesus…Instead of Jesus being spray worthy we begin to decide who is spray worthy…then if we are not careful we too use the spray only for ourselves.

Tell me what good is Clive Christian no 1 if we are the only ones that smell it?

we justify it even by using the part of the passaged that says you will always have the poor.

But this is not an excuse to not care for the poor but to care for the poor all the more.

Every person in our lives is spray worthy if we are a disciple of Jesus.

We should have the same level of discipleship as Mary.

We should have the same level of discipleship as Mary. i. We should follow love as the law. ii. We should seek to embrace Jesus and others over legalism. iii. We should do what we can to get as close as possible to Jesus. We should pour out our lives as a sacrifice for Christ.i. Lent is a season of sacrifice, but it’s not sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice. ii. We should find ways to extravagantly lavish love upon Jesus through our acts of sacrifice. The last part of the text that talks about the poor always being with us is not an excuse to not care for the poor. i. It seems that the opposite is actually true. Jesus emphasizes that he is not always with them, but we know Jesus speaks to what is done to the least of these as being done to him.1. This would imply that, while Jesus isn’t with us, the extravagant acts of love we do for one another, and especially for the least of these, are acts of profound love done for Jesus. We should permeate the world with the hope of resurrection. i. Though death often hangs in our air, what would it take to see the world permeated with the fragrance of hope?

i. We should follow love as the law.

. We should follow love as the law. ii. We should seek to embrace Jesus and others over legalism. iii. We should do what we can to get as close as possible to Jesus. We should pour out our lives as a sacrifice for Christ.i. Lent is a season of sacrifice, but it’s not sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice. ii. We should find ways to extravagantly lavish love upon Jesus through our acts of sacrifice. The last part of the text that talks about the poor always being with us is not an excuse to not care for the poor. i. It seems that the opposite is actually true. Jesus emphasizes that he is not always with them, but we know Jesus speaks to what is done to the least of these as being done to him.1. This would imply that, while Jesus isn’t with us, the extravagant acts of love we do for one another, and especially for the least of these, are acts of profound love done for Jesus. We should permeate the world with the hope of resurrection. i. Though death often hangs in our air, what would it take to see the world permeated with the fragrance of hope?

ii. We should seek to embrace Jesus and others over legalism.

iii. We should do what we can to get as close as possible to Jesus.

We should pour out our lives as a sacrifice for Christ.

i. Lent is a season of sacrifice, but it’s not sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice.

ii. We should find ways to extravagantly lavish love upon Jesus through our acts of sacrifice. The last part of the text that talks about the poor always being with us is not an excuse to not care for the poor.

i. It seems that the opposite is actually true. Jesus emphasizes that he is not always with them, but we know Jesus speaks to what is done to the least of these as being done to him.

1. This would imply that, while Jesus isn’t with us, the extravagant acts of love we do for one another, and especially for the least of these, are acts of profound love done for Jesus.

We should permeate the world with the hope of resurrection.

Then I want to finish with:

Why would you and I not give everything we have if we believe that Jesus has saved us?

It’s easy to become cynical or even self-motivated, to care more for ourselves than for Jesus and others.

It’s easy to become cynical or even self-motivated, to care more for ourselves than for Jesus and others.

It’s easy to fall into the lies that Judas did and cover our own selfish motives with words about seeking the well-being of others. It is a hard but good task to sacrifice for Christ in the ways of Mary. To care more about our love for Christ than for legalistic rule-following.

This season, we should seek a heart like Mary’s. We should seek to fall at the feet of Jesus, to worship wholeheartedly with love and gratitude, that the world might experience hope in such profound ways that everyone in our lives can smell it.

Communion:

As we prepare to come to the table let us come asking God to make us an inviting fragrance to Jesus. Let us come to the table willing to sacrifice everything because of the Joy we have in Jesus.